I heard that due to the tremendous forces exerted on the body during ejection (from a fighter or similar military aircraft), that the spine is compressed to make the pilot a few inches shorter.

I was wondering if anyone out there has ejected or knows someone who has ejected and survived, and cares to share their story (and if they came out shorter).

Also, I was wondering what types of military aircraft are fitted with ejection seats. I know that most to all fighters are, but what about other types and transports such as C-17's, KC-135's, B-52's, C-130's? What about helicopters?

Quoting CAP2008 (Thread starter):I know that most to all fighters are, but what about other types and transports such as C-17's, KC-135's, B-52's, C-130's? What about helicopters?

Check your facts, the B-52, is not a transport but a Bomber. And, yes it has ejection seats. None of the ohter aircraft you have listed have ejection seats. IIRC only the Kamov Ka 50/52 has an ejection system.

All the US bombers have ejection seats for normal crews. On training missions where extra crew (instructors) occupy jumpseats, they have parachutes & must use a bailout method.
If you check on the British V-Bombers, some of them had interesting setups. For instance, in the Vulcan, the captain & first officer had ejection seats, while the bombardier & DSO did not. Where they expendable or something?

I watched a special about US Navy Aviators taking off from a carrier and they had to eject at less then deck height, the force of the pilot and his weapons officer hitting the water so hard compressed their spines a considerable amount, I know they considered that a small price to pay to survive It was caught on film and they were lucky. I would think a kick like that would do something even without hitting the water.

One of my dad's best buddies in the Navy was a Mig killer in Vietnam in the F-4, and had quite the ejection story. Needless to say after the incident he never flew in the military again, but his exact battle-damaged F-4 is mounted on a pole in Pensacola.

Anyhow, this isn't my story, but I'll still tell it as best as I can.

So, they were on a mission over Vietnam, doing air-to-air or some such, I forget the what he said the mission was. On the way home, the Viets launched some SAM's at them, one of which partially got them. Shrapnel from the warhead tore threw the cockpit and tore up his arm pretty good. The plane was still flying..... well, slowly crashing. So, they had to eject but with his torn up arm he couldn't reach the overhead ejection handle. So, he raised the whole uninjured side of his body, so he could get his good arm high enough to grab the overhead ejection handle. Only in retrospect, this was a huge mistake. In lifting his body, his leg was raised only a few inches off the ejection seat.

When he pulled the ejection handle, the seat got a few inches running start at his leg, enough so that it shattered his femur clear in half. The VC caught him pretty quick, at which point his leg was briefly looked at. Of course he received no medical attention, and had maggots and all sorts of parasites going wild in the open wounds (shivers...)

Now, after several years in the Hanoi Hilton, he finally got sent back to the States, where doctors got to finally look at his injuries from the ejection several years prior. After taking an xray, they found the femur had reset itself..... but without a cast, the bone had set itself with a 2-inch overlap. The Navy surgeons decided the best (and really only) possible solution was to surgically removed the two inch overlap, as well as two inches from the other leg.

Where this is going is..... my dad's buddy went to Vietnam at 6'1". He came home 5'11". And to think all that happened after the ejection seat got only a few inches running start at his leg.

The same pilot though, his exact F-4 from a Mig-killing dogfight is mounted on a pole in Pensacola. Apparently the plane was so badly damaged it would never fly again, and was a miracle it ever made it back to the ship. So now it's a living museum down in PNS somewhere.

Quoting MissedApproach (Reply 4):If you check on the British V-Bombers, some of them had interesting setups. For instance, in the Vulcan, the captain & first officer had ejection seats, while the bombardier & DSO did not. Where they expendable or something?

The missions for these aircraft were always expected to be conducted at high level, so in theory, the rear crew would have time to bail out if anything went wrong. Therefore the cost and weight of ejection seats could be saved.

Not much use if something happened in the take-off or landing phase, no time or height for the crew to bail out. Also, even at higher levels, the doomed aircraft could end up in a position where the G forces were too high for the rear crew to be able to get out of their seats let alone make it to the exit door. Needless to say, over the career of the V-Bombers a number of back seat crew payed the ultimate price, while the front seaters survived.

A system was retrospectively designed to fit ejection seats for the rear crew, but due to the cost and complexity involved, it was never put into service.

Quoting Transpac787 (Reply 6):
The same pilot though, his exact F-4 from a Mig-killing dogfight is mounted on a pole in Pensacola. Apparently the plane was so badly damaged it would never fly again, and was a miracle it ever made it back to the ship. So now it's a living museum down in PNS somewhere.

I'm confused? If the pilot ejected, the plane obviously crashed? In that case, how was there anything left intact of the aircraft to mount in Pensacola? There's not generally much left that resembles an aircraft when a jet goes down.

Quoting PWM2TXLHopper (Reply 14):I'm confused? If the pilot ejected, the plane obviously crashed? In that case, how was there anything left intact of the aircraft to mount in Pensacola? There's not generally much left that resembles an aircraft when a jet goes down.

Sorry, I realized after posting I worded it poorly.

The plane mounted in Pensacola was many flights before the one he was shot down. They were shot several times that flight too, and the rocket fuel in one of the missiles began to burn and actually fused the missile to the fuselage.... which is also still fused onto the plane in PNS.

The plane he was shot down in there was nothing left of. Sorry for the confusion!!

The numbers I picked up from a LH Captain are that a Panavia Tornado ejection will make you 1cm shorter. After ejecting twice in the Luftwaffe, your career is over due to medical reasons. Not sure to how many pilots that happened though...

A few inches sounds a bit too much to me, but no matter how much it is, it is surely not healty. Im quite tall (1,92m), and I sometimes have up to 1cm difference in height between morning and evening

I know many people with one or more ejections. I don't know about 'shorter' but it does seem somewhat likely, but two come to mind. One friend had ejected one time from an A-4 and had back pain problems from it, another had ejected twice from B-57s and had no problems at all. Another acquaintance - one from an F-86 and one from an experimental aircraft and no reported problems.

I am probably an inch or more shorter than when I started my career. Damn gravity.

Happiness is not seeing another trite Ste. Maarten photo all week long.